Theater; THE GOODSPEED IS BEGINNING 20TH SEASON

By HASKEL FRANKEL

Published: March 28, 1982

THE Goodspeed Opera House, in East Haddam, Conn., will open its doors for its 20th season on Tuesday. The first of three shows, which plays through June 12, is ''Lock Up Your Daughters,'' adapted by Bernard Miles from Henry Fielding's ''Rape Upon Rape'' of 1730. The score is by Laurie Johnson, the lyrics by Lionel Bart. Bill Gile will direct, George Bunt will be the choreographer. The cast is headed by Susan Elizabeth Scott, Carleton Carpenter, and John Remme, a favorite with Goodspeed audiences.

If the musical title sounds familiar to Goodspeed buffs it is because the show played at the theater in East Haddam in 1969, Michael Price's first season as executive director.

The Fielding title, ''Rape Upon Rape,'' may sound unnerving to those who think of the Goodspeed Opera House as a place it is always safe to bring the children. Rest assured. ''Lock Up Your Daughters'' may be a bit racy and suggestive but it is not vulgar. If anything, this musical is a satirical look into the rowdy world of post-Restoration England, a time when plays were populated by characters whose names told the audience about them before they were even met. Those attending ''Lock Up Your Daughters'' will meet such as Squeezum, Quill, Politic, Ramble and Captain Constant.

For the record, Henry Fielding achieved his first fame as a playwright, but he went too far when his ''The Historical Register For the Year 1736'' ridiculed the prime minister, Sir Robert Walpole. This brought about the Licensing Act of 1737 setting up censorship of the stage and ending Fielding's career as a playwright. He turned to the novel and in 1749 produced his masterpiece, the classic ''Tom Jones.''

''Lock Up Your Daughters'' has yet to play New York City, although it seems to have been on the way there when it opened at the Schubert Theater in Boston in 1960. The entertainment licensing chief of the city attended the opening night and sent word to the manager of the theater of changes he wanted. These included extensive cuts in dialogue and songs and the deletion of an entire bedroom scene. According to one newspaper report of the day the man was overheard to say, ''If they get into that bed again I'll close the show.'' They did, and he did.

A final story concerns the birth of the musical's title. According to Mr. Miles the Fielding title ''was considered a little too warm'' for London. The title was found when Anthony Hopkins, a composer visited Mr. Miles. The adapter offered him a glass of wine, which he refused, saying he that he did not drink liquor. He was then offered a cigarette to which he replied, ''No thanks, I don't smoke ... but lock up your daughters!''

The second show - June 16 through Sept. 11 - will be the 1947 musical hit, ''High Button Shoes'' which ran for 727 performances on Broadway. It had a book by Stephen Longstreet, based on his novel, plus an attractive score Jule Styne with lyrics by Sammy Cahn. The big hit numbers were, ''Papa Won't You Dance With Me?'' and ''I Still Get Jealous.''

The original production featured the talents of Phil Silvers, Nannette Fabray, Joey Faye, Jack McCauley, Mark Dawson and Helen Gallagher. The plot concerns two swindlers running amok through New Brunswick, N.J., in 1913 making a buck through any scheme they can come up with.

While the Goodspeed version will have new choreography by Dan Siretta, the high point of the original production was the ''Mack Sennett Ballet'' created by Jerome Robbins, in which a bunch of bathing beauties, Keystone Kops and a gorilla race in and out of a line of bathhouses that stretched across the stage, a ballet that Time magazine called ''a masterpiece of controlled pandemonium.''

The third show will play from Sept. 15 through Nov. 28. This is the spot where the Goodspeed Opera House unveils a new musical.

There will be two Shakespearean productions on view this summer at the American Shakespeare Theater at Stratford, Conn. The season opens July 6 with ''Henry IV, Part I'' which plays through Aug. 1. Christopher Walken will appear as Hotspur, Richard Thomas as Hal and Roy Dotrice as Falstaff.

The second production, ''Hamlet'' will play from Aug. 3 through Sept. 5. Christopher Walken will play Hamlet with Richard Thomas as Laertes.